Sin Makes You…(Yeah) Stupid!

We do the dumbest things when we think no one’s watching or when there’s an inkling that we could get away with it. Yes, in my minds eye I do see that heavily pregnant lady in the London riots who matched into an Argos store and looted goods with a toddler tucked under one arm and boxes of stolen goods in the other. Unfazed by the overhead CCTV, the young woman did not even bother to disguise her face as she calmly strolled out of the shop.

According to the FBI, most bank robberies are “Unsophisticated and unprofessional” crimes. Despite the ubiquity of all-seeing surveillance cameras, 76% of robbers don’t bother with a disguise, and 95% have no plan to conceal their spoils.

Case in point, Jack Shreiner. This criminal mastermind handed a New York City bank teller a note demanding money. She surrendered $7,791 in cash. After four days, our evil genius then decided the best place to stash his loot was in a savings account. The enigmatic part of his brilliant plan is that he selected the very bank he had just robbed. Perhaps he thought the teller had Alzheimer’s?

Another “unsophisticated” robbery allowed Detroit detectives to ferret out the villain almost instantaneously. This green hornet apparently believed strongly enough in recycling to write his demand note on the back of a used envelope he had received. No, he didn’t remember to tear off the part inscribed with his name and residential address.

There is only one explanation for this type of behavior: sin makes you stupid.